New Razer Blade Pro comes along for the ride

Razer has unveiled two new versions of its Razer Blade line of gaming laptops, the 14-inch Razer Blade and 17-inch Razer Blade Pro.

The Blade Pro features a next-gen Nvidia Maxwell GPU, more specifically the GTX 860M. The new Blade is home to a Kepler-based GTX 870M GPU.

The 14-inch Razer Blade also has a shiny new 3200 x 1800 resolution touchscreen display condensed to a 262ppi density. The company calls it "retina-tearing."

Razer says the new Blade's screen features 250% greater contrast ratio compared with its predecessor, the 2013 Razer Blade, as well as high brightness for outdoor use and wide viewing angles.

A sharp Blade

In addition Razer says the Nvidia GPU and Intel Core i7 chip lend the 0.7-inch-thick, all-aluminum Blade more power and 65% better frame rate processing than its predecessor.

It comes with 8GB of DDR3L memory and a 128GB, 256GB or 512GB solid state hard drive. Starting price begins at $2,199 (about £1,322, AU$2,438) with pre-orders kicking off today. Razer expects shipping to start early next month.

The new Razer Blade Pro, on the other hand, is a slightly different beast.

Go Pro

The new 17-inch Razer Blade Pro differs from its 14-inch counterpart in more than just the size of its 1080p LED display. Like the last Razer Blade Pro, this one features the unique Switchblade UI and LCD touchscreen trackpad.

The customizable trackpad provides shortcuts and has its own set of apps, and it's what most sets the Blade Pro apart from other gaming laptops.

The new Pro's specs now include 16GB of memory and it boasts up to double the battery life during gaming. At the 0.88-inch thick, the laptop also includes some "pro" software baked in, as well as special interface tweaks and Windows 8 Charms and Twitch apps. For a bit of fun, an app created in conjunction with electronic dance music performer Afrojack is making its debut on the system.

Razer says the Pro specializes in "video rendering, photo editing, electronic dance music mixing and performance, and other pro-level creative tasks," as well as game streaming and video capture.

It's starting price is $2,299 (about £1383, AU$2,566) and is available now through Razerzone.com.

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